Fr. Manuel J. Montesclaros, SJ
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 24, 2016
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
How does one believe these words of Jesus? It is a marvel to read in the Gospels how both the fulfilment of God’s words and how persons come to believe in this very fulfilment do happen.
At the beginning of his Gospel, St. Luke expresses his purpose of writing “an orderly sequence” for Theophilus (which means “loved by God”), one who represents each of the readers of Luke’s Gospel: “So that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received,” i.e., that each reader may come to believe in the fulfilment of scriptures in Jesus.
As St Luke narrates his “orderly sequence” of “events that have been fulfilled” in their midst, he explicitly declares that both the fulfilment of the events and to come to believe in this very fulfilment do happen by the power of the Holy Spirit.
At the two annunciations by angel Gabriel of the births of John and of Jesus, he announces to Zechariah, “He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb,” and to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”
At baptism of Jesus, St Luke tells us that “the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove.” He continues to say that “filled with the Holy Spirit,” Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.” Our Gospel today narrates, after having conquered the temptations of the devil, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.” At the synagogue, he has been handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. The passage that Jesus reads in the begins with, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” For St. Luke, this signals the unfolding of the fulfilment of God’s words recorded in scriptures.
Indeed, St Luke is quite particular in portraying to Theophilus, the one loved by God, he who represents each of us his readers that the fulfilment of God’s word in Jesus happens by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In like manner, St Luke presents those who come to believe in the fulfilment of God’s word in Jesus as filled with the Holy Spirit. Zechariah, “filled with Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for He has visited and brought redemption to His people.’” During the visit of Mary to her, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” Elizabeth “cried in a loud voice and said, ‘Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’”
Mary and Joseph themselves are amazed at what Simeon has said about their child. I too wonder how Simeon is able to recognize in this child of an unknown and poor couple who offered “the sacrifice of turtledoves,” the promised salvation. St Luke unveils the reason for such amazing recognition. He describes Simeon as,
“righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God. ‘Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace…for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.’”
Indeed, St Luke is quite particular in portraying to Theophilus, the one loved by God, he who represents each of us his readers that just as the fulfilment of God’s word in Jesus happens by the power of the Holy Spirit so too does one is able to believe in this very fulfilment.
Our second reading proclaims, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” We recall how St Luke depicts Jesus’ own baptism,
“Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”
Here at the baptism of Jesus, St Luke describes the power of prayer. Truly prayer makes God open heaven and gives us not merely answers to our prayer but His own Spirit Himself. In prayer and through the Spirit God claims us as His beloved children.
And so as baptized, we pray as Jesus prays. In this we shall be filled with the Holy Spirit and like Mary, Zechariah, Elizabeth and Simeon, be empowered to come to believe in Jesus and His proclamation:
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing!”